Reflection - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Reflection from Week One of this year’s Advent Resources

Have you ever heard the Christmas carol “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”? If you’ve worked in any kind of shop during the Christmas period over the last 10 years this might be triggering some bad memories, but for the rest of us, the signs that we see around us at this time of the year are a reminder that Christmas is on the way.

The decorations that catch our eye with their sparkle and movement. The lights and displays covering entire churches, houses, and even whole streets. The ads everywhere showing us what we need to make this Christmas more amazing than any we’ve had before! There are signs everywhere we look pointing us to what is to come, even counting us down in shopping days! Signs to get excited and rejoice for what is to come! But sometimes all these things we see, can actually make it hard for us to rejoice, as we remember things from the past, or see where things are now in comparison with then. Maybe we struggle to rejoice because we can’t see what is to come.

And so, as we begin this Advent journey, we might find ourselves in a time of very mixed emotions for ourselves, and for those around us.
The Gospel reading Luke 21:25-36, reflects some of this tension too, as it invites us to look around, not at the beginning of Jesus story, but at the other end of his story - Jesus’ return. It speaks of the challenges and trials to come and the difficulties that will be seen. But what it also reminds us to do, is to straighten our backs, lift our heads and look for God. It challenges us, despite how we might be feeling, to look with eyes that are open for God and what God is doing in the world.

It also serves as a reminder to continue to live the way Jesus has asked his followers to. No matter what is happening around us, we are encouraged to continue to live lives of self-sacrificing love, working in partnership with God, to restore all things so that others may see God, and find reason to rejoice.

This is something to see and rejoice: moments where we can be part of God’s transformation, particularly during this time of Advent.
Over the last few years our family has found a charity group to join in helping pack and deliver Christmas hampers across our community, as a small sign of God’s ongoing work, and bringing joy in the midst of darkness. As we’ve done this, our kids have invited their friends to join in, and we've been part of something tangible for others to see a glimpse of the coming of God’s hope, love and joy. This interaction has allowed them too, to see God’s people undertaking small acts of joyful restoration in the world.

As you approach this Advent, despite how you might be feeling, or even because of how you are feeling, I wonder what opportunities you may see around you to rejoice in the goodness of God and share that rejoicing with others. How might you be able to embody a hope that can withstand whatever challenges it may come up against, and in doing so, allow others to see what it really means for it to “look a
lot like Christmas”.